Double Standards

[TLFisher]

Let's examine the matter of opinions. An elder or co-worker can have a certain opinion about a certain brother yet it is treated as fact regardless if there is any merit to his opinion.
A small potato may have a certain a opinion and it's just that, an opinion. If it's an opinion contrary to the LSM groupthink; specifically how brothers were misrepresented (quarantines, disfellowships, etc), those opinions will be minimized as "perceived wrongdoings", "imagined offenses", etc.
If it wasn't so grievous, it would be so funny the varying degrees two sets of rules that exists.

[aron]

1 Corinthians 12:25: "that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another."

Why do the college students get one level of attention and care, but the aged and infirm another, and the "working saints" and "community saints" another? Doesn't this make divisions, according to Paul's word?

Don't get me wrong, I love college students and am burdened for the young, but wouldn't you rather bring a college student into a church that cared for everybody, not just "good building material"? It's very unbalanced.

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by aron

1 Corinthians 12:25: "that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another."

It's more hypocrisy than double standard when in the local churches there is so much "against division", but in the next sentence putting down Christians meeting with other churches. (We have the full gospel and they have the low gospel). Such talk encourages divisive speaking when there is the absence of rebuke..

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by aron

1 Corinthians 12:25: "that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another."

Why do the college students get one level of attention and care, but the aged and infirm another, and the "working saints" and "community saints" another? Doesn't this make divisions, according to Paul's word?

Don't get me wrong, I love college students and am burdened for the young, but wouldn't you rather bring a college student into a church that cared for everybody, not just "good building material"? It's very unbalanced.

Same can be said about brothers who get divorced. Say one is an elder and another is a non-elder, the elder will get significantly abundant care while the non-elder is left alone. James 2:2-3 comes to mind:

For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”

[TLFisher]

Yet another double standard; "don't make an issue of persons, matter, or things".
back around 2009 prior to meeting with LC in Renton, I was told "don't make an issue of _____ (our poster known as Indiana).
To make such a statement indicates they were making an issue of person.

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Terry

Yet another double standard; "don't make an issue of persons, matter, or things".
back around 2009 prior to meeting with LC in Renton, I was told "don't make an issue of _____ (our poster known as Indiana).
To make such a statement indicates they were making an issue of person.

It's funny how they can say not to make an issue of a person but the very act of them saying that is making an issue of that person. Come to think of it, why do they assume that by just not mentioning someone's name that it makes whatever problem there is go away?

For example, I have known multiple LC members who have expressed concerns about various issues publicly. It has generally been frowned upon. Maybe they elders did something to shut them up, maybe not, but just because the said concerns weren't brought up again doesn't mean the concerns are gone. Do they really think that by sweeping something under the rug will solve the problem? It just makes things worse.

[Ohio]

Double Standard: LSM loved to compare the worst of Christianity to the best of the Recovery. They would compare the moral failures of some minister in the news with exciting testimony of a promising young person.

I say let's compare Philip Lee's morality with the average Christian family in some anytown denomination.

Another Double Standard: Endless winds and waves of movements (uhh ... God's up-to-date move) coming out of Witness Lee supposedly good for all of our families, but never did any good for his own family.

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by aron

1 Corinthians 12:25: "that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another."

Why do the college students get one level of attention and care, but the aged and infirm another, and the "working saints" and "community saints" another? Doesn't this make divisions, according to Paul's word?

Don't get me wrong, I love college students and am burdened for the young, but wouldn't you rather bring a college student into a church that cared for everybody, not just "good building material"? It's very unbalanced.

It is a terrible double standard. How dare they imply that God's free gift of salvation is only for "good material". How dare they imply that only part of the flock needs shepherding. It really disgusts me when I think about it.

[SAAggie]

Originally Posted by aron

1 Corinthians 12:25: "that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another."

Why do the college students get one level of attention and care, but the aged and infirm another, and the "working saints" and "community saints" another? Doesn't this make divisions, according to Paul's word?

Don't get me wrong, I love college students and am burdened for the young, but wouldn't you rather bring a college student into a church that cared for everybody, not just "good building material"? It's very unbalanced.

I'm new here but have searched the forum for this type of conversation.
1. I Love the Lord
2. I'm a community\working saint (I despise that label)
3. I have no burden for the campus work - not because of the students but because of the Full Time serving ones treating the "community saint" as 2nd class citizens , knowing these folks provide the money for them to do the campus work.
4. Full Timers are lazy and a burden - my opinion only.

[leastofthese]

Originally Posted by SAAggie

I'm new here but have searched the forum for this type of conversation.
1. I Love the Lord
2. I'm a community\working saint (I despise that label)
3. I have no burden for the campus work - not because of the students but because of the Full Time serving ones treating the "community saint" as 2nd class citizens , knowing these folks provide the money for them to do the campus work.
4. Full Timers are lazy and a burden - my opinion only.

Thanks for posting SAAggie (Whoop!)

I recieved a significant amount of attention as a non-college aged student. But I’ll admit this was VERY unusual.

Why do you still meet with the LSM churches?

[SAAggie]

Originally Posted by leastofthese

Thanks for posting SAAggie (Whoop!)
I recieved a significant amount of attention as a non-college aged student. But I’ll admit this was VERY unusual.
Why do you still meet with the LSM churches?

Howdy leastofthese!
I meet because I enjoy being with the saints I'm connected to, if that makes sense. I have fellowship with them and we can pray about our situations and just enjoy the Lord.
There are even some that have left the LC's I try to stay in contact with that were true friends and brothers and still are as far as I'm concerned , but if the elders in this locality find out I've talked to them, they would consider me poisoned.

Also I have no issue with the ministry, preachers have their ministry, that's how it is. I have issue with putting the ministry before Christ or equating it to the WORD.

We've been meeting for several year and my wife was a "Church Kid" from the 70's/80's(the Lord somehow preserved her since so many in that age group were lost).
My kids grew up as "Church Kids", but for some reason the Full Timers think the college aged "Church Kids" are self sufficient, which is totally not true.

I'm fine with students coming to my home, I'm fine with working saints coming to my home - it's the elitist Full Timers that I have the biggest issue with.
When we first started meeting - I was older than a "normal piece of fruit" so it wasn't like I was high maintenance either, but I was talking with the Full Timer that was assigned to the home meeting we were with at the time and he told me "I can't pray with you, you'll need to find one of the older brother to pray with". My thought was "Really?! You come to my house, you eat my food, you don't clean up after yourselves, and you can't pray with me?" Anyway I ended up being knitted with some older brothers which worked out fine, but after that situation with the FT'r, I've shied away from any fellowship with Full Timers, nor do I trust them (not sure what they put in the kool-aid at the FTTA...)

Bring it to today - my kids where were not taken care of when they went college - so there's that too.

Not sure if any of this make sense, but it boils down to the cast system - FT'rs are the higher cast - the working folks are the schlubs and who's purpose is to serve the FT'rs, because we can only be useful to the Lord in that way since we didn't go to the training(so says the FT'r edict).

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by SAAggie

I meet because I enjoy being with the saints I'm connected to, if that makes sense. I have fellowship with them and we can pray about our situations and just enjoy the Lord. There are even some that have left the LC's I try to stay in contact with that were true friends and brothers and still are as far as I'm concerned , but if the elders in this locality find out I've talked to them, they would consider me poisoned.

Also I have no issue with the ministry, preachers have their ministry, that's how it is. I have issue with putting the ministry before Christ or equating it to the WORD.

We've been meeting for several year and my wife was a "Church Kid" from the 70's/80's (the Lord somehow preserved her since so many in that age group were lost). My kids grew up as "Church Kids", but for some reason the Full Timers think the college aged "Church Kids" are self sufficient, which is totally not true.

I'm fine with students coming to my home, I'm fine with working saints coming to my home - it's the elitist Full Timers that I have the biggest issue with. When we first started meeting - I was older than a "normal piece of fruit" so it wasn't like I was high maintenance either, but I was talking with the Full Timer that was assigned to the home meeting we were with at the time and he told me "I can't pray with you, you'll need to find one of the older brother to pray with". My thought was "Really?! You come to my house, you eat my food, you don't clean up after yourselves, and you can't pray with me?" Anyway I ended up being knitted with some older brothers which worked out fine, but after that situation with the FT'r, I've shied away from any fellowship with Full Timers, nor do I trust them (not sure what they put in the kool-aid at the FTTA...)

Not sure if any of this make sense, but it boils down to the cast system - FT'rs are the higher cast - the working folks are the schlubs and who's purpose is to serve the FT'rs, because we can only be useful to the Lord in that way since we didn't go to the training(so says the FT'r edict).

Makes a lot of sense, SAAggie!

Your comments reminded me of the "early days" when Lee would constantly condemn Christian seminaries as "cemeteries." Then he started his own "cemeteries" called Full-Time-Trainings. It was always "Bad-when-they-do-it but Good-when-we-do-it" hypocrisy that required a light from heaven to see through. Or talk to an ex-member and get "poisoned" via a few historical facts about LSM.

The LC movement is rotting from within, from within the hollowed training centers at LSM. You are so right about the Full-Timer Caste System. This really took off in the mid-80's in Taipei during the so-called "New Way." Lee constantly extolled his young "Blue Jacket" trainees, and regularly trashed LC elders. Some have said that his tactics were taken from Mao's playbook. Brothers would advance in the system just by their zeal for Lee and his ministry.

The Apostle Paul called these ones, "false brothers, dogs, and evil workers."

[aron]

Originally Posted by Ohio

You are so right about the Full-Timer Caste System. This really took off in the mid-80's in Taipei during the so-called "New Way." Lee constantly extolled his young "Blue Jacket" trainees, and regularly trashed LC elders. Some have said that his tactics were taken from Mao's playbook. Brothers would advance in the system just by their zeal for Lee and his ministry.

I was there in the early '90s when the New Way and door-knocking was being replaced by the Campus Work. Even then it was clear that divisions were arising - we were told in the FTTA to go for "typical Americans", and if you were too dense they made it explicit, Caucasians.

Also, if you were a student in an Ivy League or Cal Tech or MIT you were a star, if you were in a state college, OK, if you were in a community college, meh, not so much. "Good material" clearly was aligned with future earning prospects. James' epistle rightly called this out. (But they didn't care much for James, as he didn't have 'the vision').

And then the poor, the aged, the infirm - forget about it! Don't waste your time, we were told. If they can't pay you back in this age, drop them. Let some other ministry care for them.

[aron]

Originally Posted by SAAggie

I meet because I enjoy being with the saints I'm connected to, if that makes sense. I have fellowship with them and we can pray about our situations and just enjoy the Lord.

Welcome, SAA. I'm glad my earlier comments on people getting different attention & care resonated with you. The epistle of James spoke out clearly & strongly against this as well, and of course the pattern was set by the Lord Jesus himself, in accordance with the Father's will.

As far as being in the LSM assembly, your decision to stay there is in line with Paul's advice, "In that [situation] which each of you was called, in this remain." God called your wife in the context of an LSM assembly, amen. Nuff said.

But some felt led to move on, and that's their walk with the Lord. Everyone has to follow the Voice. The important thing is, try to receive one another in Christ's name, go on together as best we can. The internet is a tool like any other; it is up to the users whether it's used well.